page_title: Guanches
section_title: Genetics
hierarchical_section_title: Guanches / Genetics
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Ureinwohner der Insel El Hierro dargestellt Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts durch Leonardo Torriani
context_page_description: The Guanches were the aboriginal inhabitants of the Canary Islands. In 2017, the first genome-wide data from the Guanches confirmed a North African origin and that they were genetically most similar to ancient North African Berber peoples of the nearby North African mainland. It is believed that they arrived on the archipelago some time in the first millennium BCE.
  The Guanches were the only native people known to have lived in the Macaronesian region before the arrival of Europeans, as there is no evidence that the other Macaronesian archipelagos were inhabited before Europeans arrived. After the Spanish conquest of the Canaries many were wiped out by the Spanish settlers while others bred into the settler population although elements of their culture survive to this day, intermixed within Canarian customs and traditions such as Silbo.
context_section_description: Maca-Meyer et al. 2003 extracted 71 samples of mtDNA from Guanches buried at numerous Canary Islands c. 1000 AD. The examined Guanches were found to have closest genetic affinities to modern Moroccan Berbers, Canary Islanders and Spaniards. They carried a significantly high amount of the maternal haplogroup U6b1. U6b1 is found at very low frequencies in North Africa today, and it was suggested that later developments have significantly altered the Berber gene pool. The authors of the study suggested that the Guanches were descended from migrants from North Africa related to the Berbers, and that the Guanches contributed c. 42%-73% to the maternal gene pool of modern Canary Islanders.
  Fregel et al. 2009a extracted 30 samples of Y-DNA from Guanches of the Canary Islands. These belonged to the paternal haplogroups E1a*, (3.33%), E1b1b1a* (23.33%), E1b1b1b* (26.67%), I* (6.67%), J1* (16.67%), K*, P* (3.33%), and R1b1b2 (10.00%). E1a*, E1b1b1a* and E1b1b1b* are common lineages among Berbers, and their high frequency among the Guanches were considered evidence that they were migrants from North Africa. R1b1b2 and I* are very common in lineages in Europe, and their moderate frequency among the examined Guanche males was suggested to have been a result of prehistoric gene flow from Europe into the region across the Mediterranean. It was found that Guanche males contributed less to the gene pool of modern Canary Islanders than Guanche females. Haplogroups typical among the Guanche has been found at high frequencies in Latin America, suggesting that descendants of the Guanche played an active role in the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
  Fregel et al. 2009b extracted the mtDNA of 30 Guanches from La Palma, (Benahoaritas). 93% of their mtDNA haplogroups were found to be of West Eurasian origin, while 7% were of sub-Saharan African origin. About 15% of their West Eurasian maternal lineages are specific to Europe and the Near East rather than North Africa, suggesting that the Benahoaritas traced partial descent from either of these regions. The examined Benahoaritas were found to have high frequencies of the maternal haplogroups U6b1 and H1-16260. U6b1 has not been found in North Africa, while H1-16260 is "extremely rare". The results suggested that the North African population from whom the Benahoaritas and other Guanches descended have been largely replaced by subsequent migrations. 
  Pereira et al. 2010 studies the origins of the maternal haplogroup U6, which is characteric of Guanches. It was suggested that the U6 had been brought to North Africa by Cro-Magnon-like humans from the Near East during the Upper Paleolithic, who were probably responsible for the formation of the Iberomaurusian culture. It was also suggested that the maternal haplogroup H1, also frequent among Guanches, had been brought to North Africa during the Holocene by migrants from Iberia, who may have participated in the formation of the Capsian culture. In a further study, Secher et al. 2014 suggested that U6 had been brought to the Levant from Central Europe in the Upper Paleolithic by people of the Aurignacian culture, forming the Levantine Aurignacian (c. 33000 BC), whose descendants had then further spread U6 as part of a remigration into Africa. U6b1a was suggested to have been brought to the Canary Islands during the initial wave of settlement by Guanches, while U6c1 was suggested to have been brought in a second wave.
  Fregel et al. 2015 examined the mtDNA of Guanches of La Gomera (Gomeros). 65% of the examined Gomero swere found to be carriers of the maternal haplogroup U6b1a. The Gomero appeared to be descended from the earliest wave of settlers to the Canary Islands. The maternal haplogroups T2c1 and U6c1 may have been introduced in a second wave of colonization affecting the other islands. It was noted that 44% of modern La Gomerans carry U6b1a. It was determined that La Gomerans have the highest amount of Guanche ancestry among modern Canary Islanders.
  Ordóñez et al. 2017 examined the remains of a large number of Guanches of El Hierro (Bimbache) 
caption: Painting of Bimbache of El Hierro by Leonardo Torriani, 1592.
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